Audiobooks

In 2017, Muddy Knees Media teamed up with Harper Collins to begin work on a series of first class audiobooks.

There are several more exciting books in the pipeline and you’ll be able to find them all here on their release. ‘Gazza in Italy’ went straight to the top of the audiobook charts and was so successful that it was subsequently released as a traditional book too.

If you’d like to work with us, contact us below for more details.

Gazza in Italy

4th July, 1990.Turin, Italy

England are on the brink of reaching their first World Cup final in 24 years. Twenty-three-year old Paul Gascoigne has been one of the breakout stars of the tournament. His athleticism, speed of thought and incredible natural gifts have given England fans renewed faith in their perennially underachieving national side.

Then in the 99th minute of a tense semi-final against Germany, Gascoigne lunges into a mistimed tackle. The ref awards him his second yellow card of the tournament, meaning that if England were to win, he would miss the final. Gascoigne turns away, tries to hold it together, but can’t. Floods of tears run down his face. We understand. We feel his pain and anguish. The legend of Gazza is born.

Two years later, after an injury-stricken season at Spurs, he arrives at Lazio for a then record transfer fee. Expectations are sky high; he is welcomed as a footballing Messiah by the Roman fans. But all is not what it seems. There are doubts over his fitness, doubts over how he will adjust to life in Italy, doubts over whether his obvious potential can finally be achieved. The three subsequent years in Italy, shot through with incredible highs and self-inflicted lows, show Gascoigne in all his complexity – an immense natural talent flawed by a too-fragile personality.

In Gazza in Italy, award-winning writer Daniel Storey brilliantly shines a light on an unexamined moment in Gascoigne’s career that encapsulates everything that we have come to associate with this most mercurial of talents: childish joy, public gaffes, wondrous skill and saddening self-destruction. Funny and harrowing in equal measure, this book allows us a better, more rounded understanding of one of our greatest sporting idols, and of a tragically misunderstood human being.

Want to talk anything Podcast related?

We can help with any Podcast-related ideas, thoughts, activities, production, content and sales. We are a friendly bunch.

Whatever happens, it is comforting to know that Richardson will be there at the final whistle with his quips and puns to put the whole harrying joy of soccer fandom into perspective and ease the arrival of the footballing winter to come.